86 travelers at this place:

Hit the road this morning after a fabulous stay in our B&B, Il Bivacco Frasassi, and made our way to Foligno. After a couple of wrong turns as there are heaps of road works going on and we can’t read the road signs, we finally arrived to check out the Calamita Cosmica. This is a contemporary sculpture made in secret in 1988 and preserved in the former church of the Holy Trinity in Annunziata. It is a 24m long human skeleton, precise in anatomy, with the addition of a large nose or birds beak, and a huge pencil piercing a finger. Very random.
It originally toured the country appearing in town squares overnight. The size of it is unbelievable and it was the only thing in the church as it took up the whole ground floor.
A cool pitstop on our way to our next location.Read more

This was one of the places I was looking forward to visiting. I found it online and thought it was right up my alley with my love of quirky and different art and buildings.
It was quite a scary drive as the gps took us down a long one way dirt road through the mountains. But we made it.

Architect, Tomaso Buzzi, acquired the 16th century monastery in 1956 with the grand plan of juxtaposing the “sacred city” of the monastery with his own “ideal city”. His style blends reality with surrealist architecture, incorporating structures and details from Classical to Medieval and even Renaissance architecture, with added elements such as stairways leading in multiple directions, general unbalance and disproportion, and monstrous and fantastical design elements.

The are also many reproductions, including the Arc de Triomphe, the Temple of Vesta and the Parthenon, which are mostly empty inside, save for stairways and inner bridges. Scattered randomly throughout the property are strange symbols and quotes, deeply personal to the artist himself.

After Tomaso’s death in 1981, his nephew Marco Solari continued to work on La Scarzuola, eventually completing the vision his uncle had for his ideal city.

Marco was the one running the tour today and it was all in Italian. There were no English tours available while we were in the area. I had read that if you are easily offended then these tours are not for you. As it was all in Italian we weren’t offended, just a bit baffled and bemused as arguments broke out between the host and the customers with quite a few choosing to leave before the tour had even started. Marco would switch between hysterical laughter and bouts of shouting and it was all very amusing.

Thankfully halfway round we started chatting to Marco’s offsider and discovered he was an ex-Aussie and has lived in Italy for the past 30 years. He gave us a brief mini tour in English which gave us more insight to the property. The story of its construction and design was very interesting.

This was certainly a place I was glad we could experience. I really enjoyed it. Brad, not so much. It really wasn’t his thing.Read more

The Duomo di Orvieto, the Orvieto Cathedral is such a pretty building. I know that’s not how you would usually describe a cathedral, but this one is pretty. While the body of the church is black stone and white marble, it is the facade that softens the look of the building with the use of soft pinks, greens and golds in the intricate columns, decorations and beautiful gold highlighted mosaics. The details are amazing.

This is Roman Catholic cathedral dedicated to the Assumption of the Virgin Mary. The building was constructed under the orders of Pope Urban IV to commemorate and provide a suitable home for the Corporal of Bolsena, a miracle which is said to have occurred in 1263 in the nearby town of Bolsena, when a travelling priest who had doubts about the truth of transubstantiation found that his Host was bleeding so much that it stained the altar cloth. The cloth is now stored in the Chapel of the Corporal inside the cathedral.
Building began in 1290 but construction took three centuries to complete.

Inside the cathedral is fairly simple but eye catching with its black and white stripes contrasting against the two beautifully frescoed chapels decorated by some of the best Italian painters of the period. And the organ is a piece of art itself. We were lucky enough to be there when the organist was playing. What a beautiful sound.

This was not on our “tourist” agenda but would have to be one of the nicest cathedrals we have seen.Read more

Knowing how much Brad loves caves and history we thought the Orvieto Underground tour would be a good one to take.

It is a series of 440 caves (out of 1200 in the system) that was used for millennia by locals for various purposes, including WWII bomb shelters, refrigerators, wine storage, wells and, during many a pesky Roman or barbarian siege, as dovecotes to trap the usual one-course dinner: pigeon (still seen on local restaurant menus as palombo).

As far as cave tours go this one wasn’t that impressive. The history was great but there really wasn’t a lot to see. The great thing about it though, is that if we hadn’t decided to do the tour we would have missed stopping at Orvieto, and it is now one of my favourite towns.Read more

The overnight rain continued in the morning until we left Citta at 12:30 to catch the bus to Gubbio. Whilst waiting for the bus we met Karl and Leslie an American couple who are also going to Rome.
Getting off the bus at Gubbio we met Ralf and Elizabeth.
We went for a coffee and ice cream and met Gerry and Alice who came in like drowned rats after their long walk. Not too happy. Shortly after we were joined by Kathryn.
The arrangements for dinner did not eventuate as the Italians and decided not to join Ralf, Elizabeth and us. We were joined by Maria(German). A pleasant evening.
Day 24 we made our way up to the Piazza Grande, via the market, to take the tourist train around the city. We return to the hotel for extra clothes, It was fresh.
Our visit to see the church where St Francis's wolf is supposed to be buried was in vain as it was closed.
We wander through the narrow streets up to the Funivia(birdcage) to go up to the Basilica of St Ubalfo. They store the ceris here.
On May 15th each year they race the three ceris up to the Basilica through the city. The Ceri are 3 tall, heavy wooden structures on top of which are placed 3 statues. St Ubaldo, protector of the masons, St Giorgio, protector of the merchants and St Antonio Abate protector of the muleteers and peasants. They are dismantled to pass them through the narrow portes. ( see photo of Shirl with arms outstretched.
I suggest you google this Festa to get some the excitement, even fervour it generates. I had the good fortune to see when I was studying Italian at Perugia. An unforgettable experience.
We had a break after a ice cream as we wanted to visit two other Churches.Read more

We made our farewells to Karl and Leslie and caught the bus to Santa Maria degli Angélil in order to take the train to Foligno. We had walked this section on a previous visit.
It was initially flat and boring ex Foligno on the Via Roma with lots of traffic. We eventually left that behind and became a
little confused with the multiple markings. I do wish the Italians would decide on one system instead of every Tom, Dick and Harry complicating things.
It was mainly through Olive groves and relatively flat until the ascent into Trevi. We are in the Old town and there's not too much here.
We are both pleased to be walking again with the realisation that our adventure is coming to an end.
The view from our hotel balcony is quite spectacular.Read more

First up this morning was a drive to Orvieto to do the Underground tour. And what an experience the drive was!! The GPS had us driving through the town itself to get to the parking area which could have been reached a much easier way. The lanes we drove down were so narrow that we had to fold in the side view mirrors. I honestly thought we were going to get the car stuck between two building and we would have just had to abandon it there. We have since discovered that the GPS was set to walk so it took us off the main roads. We made it and it was an experience we won’t forget.

I have to say that Orvieto was a lovely surprise. The town is beautiful and has such a lovely vibe to it. The Duomo was so pretty, the cobblestone laneways clean, and the doorways, windows and benches were adorned with wooden decorations or flowing flowers. Orvieto is now one of my favourite towns. I wish we were staying there to enjoy it some more.

We couldn’t get into the morning Underground tour so we enjoyed a stroll around town and checked out the Duomo before the tour. A lovely way to spend the morning.Read more

Time to take it easy before the final stage to our overnight accommodation. The route out of town was a very busy and hair-raising so we left at 7 to avoid the worst of the traffic. Once clear of the major roads we sauntered along quiet, minor roads.
We stopped for coffee and dolci in the very tiny village of Gricignano before continuing along flat roads.
We missed out on a drink in Fighille due to poor instructions in our book so we continued up to Citerna. Quite a strep climb ensued but we arrived very early and so had lots of time to take it easy before the final stage to our overnight accommodation.
We hadn't met any other walkers at this stage.
The first part of the afternoon's walk was downhill and then, of course, it was up. We passed lots of tobacco fields.
Nearing the top of the climb we were joined by Ralph(German) and we walked together to Le Burgne.
Our hostess never stops talking. All on Italian and too bad if you don't understand.
Dinner was delayed to await the arrival of Elizabeth (Austrian).
For Shirl and I the meal was a disappointment. The soup was fine. It the rest was not to our liking.
The
Company and conversation made up for it.
Shirl's back is OK and we will continue to Citta Di Castello tomorrow.Read more

Patrizia wouldn't serve breakfast before 0830 so it was 0915 before we were on our way. Ralf had left before
Us but Elizabeth was still at Le Burgne when we left.
Downhill to start with and then we commenced our first climb. We met Ralph at a buffalo farm as he was about to leVe after a rest.
We continued the uphill grind together looking forward to a coffee at Lerchi. A most welcome break.
As we're leaving Elizabeth arrived with news that Tony(French) would arrive on a few minutes. Ralf decided to wait for him as they had walk during previous day's.
After about an hour we reached the top of the climb,thank goodness, and from there it was relatively easy descent into Citta.
On our arrival in front of the Cathedral we had a refreshing drink and got into conversation with an English family who wanted to know about our travels. The Gerry and Alice arrived. They are the Americans we had dined with at Stia.
We checked into our apartment and went shopping for food and drink bumping into Kathryn who told us that Roxanne and Sandi )Australians) from Stia were having coffee not far away. They were in good spirits and enjoying their walk.
In the evening we met Ralf and went looking for a restaurant and met Tony and some Italian walkers together with Elizabeth. 9 of us sat down to dine. Ralf (German), Tony (French), Cinzia, Nadia, Rosa and Roberto(Italian) and Shirl and I. A wonderful evening.
I spent a few hours the next day trying to sort out a few problems before we did the washing and sight-seeing.
We wondered around the narrow streets of Citta visiting a few churches and admiring the old buildings.
A quiet meal. Tomorrow it's a bus to Gubbio.Read more

We spent the morning in Gubbio visiting other attractions we had missed yesterday before bussing to Valfabbrica.
The bus was crowded with schoolchildren and we don't know if there would be a service without them.
On arrival here we met Elizabeth and had a drink with her before we went to our accommodation. I think it's going to be a noisy night.
We searched this small town for somewhere to eat tonight as Monday is not a good day for restaurants. We eventually found a pizza place. There's not much else.
The next morning we had breakfast with Elizabeth, said goodbye, and then spent the day in Perugia. A lovely city with lots to see and do. We have been here before but it's that sort of city that deserves a return visit.Read more